De Rosario suspended for first two games of D.C. United season

The D.C. captain allegedly headbutted former teammate Danny Cruz in the preseason finale and will miss games against the Houston Dynamo and Real Salt Lake as a result.

Major League Soccer kicks off its season on Saturday, but D.C. United captain Dwayne De Rosario will be forced to wait a couple of weeks before getting his campaign underway.

The D.C. United captain was fined an undisclosed amount and suspended two games by the MLS Disciplinary Committee for violent conduct that occurred in the final preseason game against the Philadelphia Union. De Rosario reportedly headbutted former teammate and Union winger Danny Cruz amid a scuffle between the two Eastern Conference rivals, an act for which he was red carded.

The league elected to take additional action and punish De Rosario, and as a result, the 34-year-old Canadian veteran will miss out on D.C.'s season-opening trip to face his former club, the Houston Dynamo, as well as D.C.'s home opener on March 9 against Real Salt Lake.

According to an MLS statement, the MLS Players Union appealed the suspension on behalf of De Rosario, but commissioner Don Garber upheld the ruling, forcing the most recent member of the MLS 100-goal club to postpone the start to his season.

De Rosario will be eligible to return on March 16, when D.C. takes on rival New York, another one of De Rosario's former teams, at Red Bull Arena. In his illustrious career, he has been red carded just twice in 300 regular season games, both of which occurred in the 2006 season.